Gulls Drop A Close One At Home

After finishing last week with a three-game losing streak, the Gulls start off this week on
the wrong foot as they lost a brutal pitching duel to the North Shore Navigators by a
score of 6-3. The team falls to 3-6-1, and has lost 4 straight games for the first time
since the 2022 Season. Meanwhile, the Navigators record improves to 3-6 on the year.
Mason Christopher (Seton Hall) started on the mound for the Gulls, while North Shore
selected Gian Gamelli to toe the rubber at the start of the game. The Navs were the first
to strike in the top of the third, where Hudson Elias earned himself a triple, and would
cross the play in the next at bat after Grayson Carpenter reached on a Fielder’s Choice.
But in the 4 th , the Gulls would answer back after Caeden Cloud (Kentucky) belted a
double out to right field and drove home Cade Brown (Georgia Tech). Sadly, the
Navigators would score again in the top of the fifth with another combo of Elias and
Carpenter.
Following the lead being taken back by North Shore, the Gulls went to Mickey
McClaskey (Gonzaga), who put on a clinic for the Gulls, striking out six of the first seven
batters he faced. The Gulls offense then backed up McClaskey’s heroics on the mound
by tying the game once again, thanks to a sac fly by McClaskey’s college teammate,
Maddox Haley (Gonzaga), who was able to hit the ball deep enough for Devan Zirwas
(Eastern Michigan) to tag up and score from third off North Shore reliever Thomas
Mahoney. While Ellis and Carpenter did try once again to put up runs in the seventh
following a short stint on the mound by Michael Geissler, the Gulls were able to cleanly
field the ball and get out of the seventh inning without letting up a run. They then
proceeded to take the lead 3-2 against North Shore’s Charley Bergsma when Ryan
Novak (Miami OH) grounded out to second, but provided enough time for Zirwas to
score from third yet again.
However, in the eight inning, the Navs fought back and tacked on four runs against
David McSweeney (Northeastern) and Jake Gregor (Louisville), facing every batter in
the North Shore lineup, not helped by an unfortunate Fielding Error by Caden Cloud and
an offensive rally that put the Navs up 6-3. While Mack Edwards (UCLA) was able to
pitch a clean inning in the ninth – which included his first strikeout of this young NECBL
season – and a Haley double in the ninth was able to drive home Tristan Salinas
(Rutgers) for another run, the Gulls just ran out of gas, and fell to North Shore, making
them 1-3 against Northern Division teams this year, as well as 3-2-3 at Cardines.
The Gulls hope to snap this four game losing streak tonight when they head up to Joe
Wolf Field in North Adams to take on the 1-7 SteepleCats. First pitch is set for 6:30 PM